Toyota fields Lexus GS450 hybrid racecar

Toyota Motor has announced that it has entered a race-prepped version of its Lexus GS450h hybrid sedan in Japan's Tokachi 24-hour endurance race. The car (shown above in preliminary livery) will be raced by Sigma Automotive Racing Division (SARD), a group that races Toyotas in the Japanese Super GT series.

The GS450h racecar is spec'd at a maximum hybrid system output of about 345 hp, with peak output of the gas engine of 295 hp, and peak electric motor output of nearly 200 hp. The race-ready Lexus races in a class with a relatively hefty minimum weight of 3,417 lb, and has received the usual top-to-bottom list of race modifications, including:

• reworked suspension
• wheels and tires
• rollcage
• fuel cell
• limited-slip differential
• uprated brakes
• aero modifications

The Tokachi 24-hour race is part of a race series for production-based cars, broadly similar to the U.S. SPEED World Challenge.

[Source: Toyota]